Arrest of Condo Scammer Ordered

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the arrest of a former Huntington Beach Realtor who failed to appear in court for sentencing last week after sending word that he was near death from cancer.

An arrest warrant was issued after a hearing during which U.S. District Judge David O. Carter in Santa Ana telephoned the man’s doctor. The doctor assured the judge that his patient could briefly interrupt chemotherapy treatments for incurable lung cancer.

Phil Benson, 73, who now lives in Hayden, Idaho, pleaded guilty last year to scamming millions of dollars by illegally selling condominiums in Huntington Beach.

Benson faces sentencing on 24 federal felony counts of mail and wire fraud relating to a scheme to sell apartments as condominiums without proper city approvals.

Benson’s attorney, Chris Ayers, said his client, who uses a wheelchair and oxygen tank, would try to make arrangements to return to Orange County. He said doctors had given Benson six months to live.

“I have a guess that your client is giving the court a low priority if he has the reality of only six months to live,” Carter said. “My guess is, he’s not really coming, between you and me. But he’s going to be here, and I just want to do it as humanely as possible. My intent isn’t to harm him, it’s to sentence him.”

Carter told the doctor that Benson could return home to Idaho after sentencing “if he cooperates.” That would allow him to finish some cancer treatments before being ordered to report to a federal prison to begin his sentence, the judge said.

Federal probation officials have recommended a prison sentence for Benson of 70 to 108 months and assured Carter that his cancer could be treated in prison.

“If I hear he’s on a plane, I can call off the marshals,” Carter said.

Ayers said later Wednesday that Benson was making flight arrangements.

The last time Benson appeared in court was September, when he pleaded guilty to the fraud charges. Former Huntington Beach Mayor Pam Julien Houchen, a real estate agent who worked with Benson at Pier Realty, also pleaded guilty and will be sentenced this year. The conversions violated a 1984 city law requiring apartment owners to modify their properties and pay a $7,000 conversion fee before the units could be sold.

This month, real estate agent Thomas Bagshaw was sentenced to four months in prison and four months of home detention and ordered to pay restitution for forging signatures on condo documents. Another real estate agent, Michael Cherney, was sentenced to a year of probation and fined $5,000.

Two investors in the scheme, Michael McDonnell and Jeffrey Crandall, will be sentenced March 20. Another investor, Howard C. Richey, has pleaded not guilty, and his trial is set for August. Houchen and an eighth defendant, Harvey DuBose, are expected to be sentenced after that.